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NEW YORK, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Exports of U.S. distilled spirits dropped in 2020 due to retaliatory tariffs from its main export market, the European Union (EU), said the industry's trade association Thursday.

U.S. total exports of distilled spirits fell as much as 22.8 percent to around 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 from nearly 1.8 billion dollars in 2018, according to the latest data from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS).

The EU imposed a 25-percent tariff on imported whiskey and bourbon from the United States in mid-2018, in retaliation for a U.S. imposition of 25-percent tariffs on imported steel from the bloc.

"Since the EU's imposition of a 25 percent tariff on American Whiskey in 2018, the value of American Whiskey exports to the United Kingdom and the European Union have decreased 53 percent and 38 percent, respectively," said Christine LoCascio, chief of public policy with DISCUS, at an annual economic briefing.

The value of U.S. whiskey exports shrank 28.9 percent to 845 million dollars in 2020 from 1.2 billion dollars in 2018, according to DISCUS.

Sonat Hart, co-owner and president of Chicago-based KOVAL Distillery, said that due to tariffs, their exports of spirits have dropped 60 percent and the cost to do business abroad has increased by 15 percent.

By contrast, exports of KOVAL Distillery expanded around 25 percent each year prior to the imposition of the tariffs, said Hart.

In June 2021, the EU tariffs on U.S. whiskey will automatically increase to 50 percent, said DISCUS.

LoCascio added that U.S. retaliatory tariffs on certain imported spirits had a similar effect with U.S. imports of Scotch whiskies down 37 percent in the last two years.

In October 2019, the United States imposed a 25-percent tariff on Single Malt Scotch whiskey, Single Malt Irish whiskey from Northern Ireland and other spirits from selected EU members.

The EU and the United States launched another round of mutual retaliatory tariffs on imported spirits in November 2020 and January 2021, respectively, according to DISCUS.

"Hospitality businesses on both sides of the Atlantic have been decimated by the global pandemic, and these tariffs are a significant and unnecessary drag on their recovery," said LoCascio.

LoCascio urged the United States, the EU and the United Kingdom to make it a priority to suspend these tariffs.

The U.S. domestic spirits market, in contrast, continued to see growth in 2020, with supplier gross revenues at 31.2 billion dollars, up 7.3 percent year-on-year, according to DISCUS. Enditem